Hungary qualified for EURO 2024 thanks to a Bulgarian own goal. Bulgaria was leading in Sofia until the sixth minute of injury time on Thursday (November 16, 2023). Then Alex Petkow (90th + 7th minute) scored with an unfortunate header into his own goal to make it 2-2 (1-1). Slovakia also celebrated late in the evening.
This means Hungary has qualified for the finals (June 14th to July 14th) next year. For the Hungarians, who qualified as the tenth team, it is the third European Championship participation in a row and the fifth overall.
Martin Adam (10th) gave the guests an early lead, Spas Delew (24th) managed to quickly equalize. A little later, Bulgaria’s Valentin Antow (37th) was sent off with a yellow-red card, while Hungary’s Milos Kerkez (57th) also received a yellow-red card.
After Kiril Despodow (79th) converted a penalty for the underdog, it looked like a defeat for Hungary for a long time. The duel, which was classified as a “high-risk game”, was moved to Sofia on Tuesday. The European Football Union (UEFA) also decided to play the game behind closed doors. Riots by violent hooligans were expected around the game.
riots in Sofia
The duel, which had already been classified as a “high-risk game”, was overshadowed by serious riots between Bulgarian fans and the police, in which 15 people suffered injuries. The game took place in Sofia behind closed doors, but almost 2,000 fans still gathered in front of the arena and loudly protested against the criticized association president Borislaw Mikhailov. They also attacked the police with projectiles, who in turn responded with water cannons.
The game was moved from Sofia to Plovdiv at short notice and was also supposed to have taken place there without fans in the stadium. However, the authorities of the city in southern Bulgaria withdrew their consent to host the encounter. Officially it was said that the stadium, which was being renovated, did not meet the safety requirements. Bulgaria’s national team last qualified for a major tournament in 2004.
Slovakia celebrates in a high-scoring game
Led by double packer Lukas Haraslin, the Slovakian national football team has booked its ticket for the 2024 European Championship in Germany. The Slovaks easily won 4:2 (2:1) against Iceland and followed the already qualified Portuguese in Group J. National coach Francesco Calzona’s team is taking part in a European Championship for the third time in a row; eleven teams have already qualified for the final round.
Haraslin first made it 1-1 through Juraj Kucka (30th), before former Bundesliga professional Ondrej Duda (36th, penalty kick) put the Slovaks in the lead. After the break, Haraslin made things clear with a quick double (47th, 55th). Orri Oskarsson (17th) and Andri Gudjohnsen (74th) were successful for the Icelanders.
Austria preserves Chances of winning the group
Austria maintained its chances of winning Group F and at the same time boosted its self-confidence for the duel with the German national team next Tuesday (8.45 p.m./ZDF). With a 2-0 (2-0) in its last group game in Estonia, team boss Ralf Rangnick’s team, which had already been confirmed as European Championship starters, moved to the top of the table. Belgium must therefore win against Azerbaijan in order to win the group on Sunday.
Of the total of eight Bundesliga legionnaires in Rangnick’s starting line-up, Konrad Laimer (26th) from German champions Bayern Munich and Philipp Lienhardt (40th) from SC Freiburg were on the scoresheet with their first international goal in the winless bottom team in Tallinn before the break .
During their dress rehearsal for the prestigious neighborhood duel in Vienna with national coach Julian Nagelsmann’s team, the Austrians, in which former Munich star David Alaba (Real Madrid) was also part of the starting line-up, shifted down a gear in the second half. However, the team from the Alpine republic was never in danger.
Spain defeats Cyprus
Spain had also already secured qualification for the 2024 tournament and won 3-1 (3-0) in Cyprus.